Ski-binding operating device



July 3 1956 B. R. DORMOY 2,

SKI-BINDING OPERATING DEVICE Filed June 28, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.Z/VVE/VTOR 19770 R NE ys July 31, 1956 B. R. DORMOY sxr-smnmc OPERATINGDEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 28, 1952 y 1956 B. R. DORMOY2,757,011

SKI-BINDING OPERATING DEVICE Filed June 28, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVE/V 70 United States Patent SKI-BINDING OPERATING DEVICE Blanche ReneDormoy, Paris, France Application June 28, 1952, Serial No. 296,131

Claims priority, application France July 2, 1951 '1 Claim. (Cl.280-1135) This invention relates to a device for operating a skibindingby means of a ski-stick.

In ski-bindings such as shown in Reed Patent No. 2,176,226, October 17,1939, the shoe is held in the toeiron under the diagonal action of aspring cable running around the heel of the shoe, said cable beingsuitably tightened or released by means of an operating leverarticulated on the ski ahead of the shoe about an axis right-angled tothe ski longitudinal axis. The cable is secured on this lever so as tobe tightened when the lever is rotated forward and so as to urge thelever into such forward rotation beyond a well-defined angular positionof the lever or dead-point. Now, to bring the lever into said position,the skier had heretofore to exert directly on the lever with the fingersa considerable force to overcome the action of the spring cable, whichaction progressively increases up to the dead-point as the cable is moreand more tightened. Moreover, to reach the lever, the skier has tocrouch down on his heels, which makes the operation of the lever stillmore difiicult. To release the binding, the main difficulty is to grip,especially with skigloves, the free end of the lever which is then keptin contact with the ski under the action of the cable.

An object of my invention is to provide means for removably articulatingone end of a ski-stick on the operating lever of a ski-binding wherebythe skier, without having to leave standing position, can remotelyoperate the lever, then acting as a crank, through the ski-stick thenacting as a connecting rod articulated with said crank.

I11 an embodiment of my invention, one end of a skistick is providedwith female articulation means adapted to beengaged on male articulationmeans provided on a ski-binding lever to be operated.

In an alternative embodiment of my invention, one end of a ski-stick isprovided with male articulation means adapted to be engaged into femalearticulation means provided on a ski-binding lever to be operated.

Another object of my invention is to provide a skistick of the typedescribed in the preceding paragraph, wherein said male articulationmeans are retractable into said stick.

Still a further object of my invention is to provide a ski-stick with apermanently articulated member adapted to be made removably fast with anexisting element of a ski-binding lever to be operated.

This arrangement offers the advantage of permitting operating with sucha ski-stick several patterns of diagonal ski-bindings without having tomodify the latter.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description, together with the accompanying drawings,submitted for purposes of illustration only and not intended to definethe scope of the invention, reference being had for that purpose to thesubjoined claim.

In these drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a ski-binding and a ski-stick designed according to apreferred embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a detailed view showing the actuation of a skibinding by meansof the stick of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the articulation of the stick on theoperating lever.

Fig. 4 is a partial elevational view of the stick handle.

Fig. 5 shows another embodiment in which the ski-stick is provided witha retractablehook.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section of the hook-carrying end of the ski-stickshown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a detail section taken on the line 77 of Fig. 6, looking inthe direction of the arrows.

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of a further embodiment of theinvention, in which the ski-stick is provided with a retractablearticulated slotted sleeve, the operating lever itself being notmodified.

Fig. 9 is a vertical section of the sleeve-carrying end of the ski-stickshown in Fig. 8.

In the diagrammatical view of Fig. 1, there is shown at 1 a portion of aski, at 2 the foot-plate of a ski binding, on which is resting the shoe3 of a skier, said shoe being engaged in the toe-iron 2a and being heldin proper position by means of a cable 2b.

4 is the operating lever of cable 2b. Said lever is articulated at 5around an axis right-angled to the longitudinal axis of the ski on astrap member 6 secured on the ski.

In the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 4, the device according to the inventionis essentially constituted by a rod 7 fixedly secured on lever 4substantially parallel to the articulation axle 5 of said lever and by ahole 8 having a circular section slightly wider than that of rod 7, saidhole being provided in a side face of the handle 9 of the ski-stick nearthe end of said handle. Hole 8 is adapted to be engaged on rod 7, asclearly shown in Fig. 3, so as to establish a provisory articulationbetween handle 9 and lever 4.

In the example shown, instead of providing a simple hole in the tubularwall, a solid member provided with a blind hole has been fitted in theend of said tubular wall and a cylindrical socket 8 has been fitted insaid blind hole, said socket being adapted to be engaged on rod 7 andthe axis of said socket being substantially right-angled to thelongitudinal axis of handle 9.

As shownin Fig. 3, to permit operating lever 4 by means of a stickprovided with such a hole, it suflices to secure, by means of screws,rivets, welding points or the like, on lever 4, the small cylindricalrod length 7 on which is preferably provided a fiat portion in the partof the rod which is in contact with the surface of the lever, said rodextending on one side or on either side of said lever. Such a rod may bemounted easily and quickly.

It is to be understood that any ski-binding comprising such a rod may beoperated by means of a ski-stick according to the invention.

On the other hand, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the outer end of thecylindrical socket 8 is preferably slightly flared out to facilitate theintroduction of the rod thereinto. The edge of said flared end ispreferably folded back on the edge of the hole cut in the leathercoating of the handle.

In the embodiment of Figs. 5 to 7, the operating lever 4 is providedwith a bridge member 11, the space 13 comprised between said bridgemember and the lever being adapted to receive a pin 12 secured on theend of handle 9 and substantially right-angled to the longitudinal axisof said handle.

In the example shown in Figs. 5 to 7, said pin 12 is constituted by oneend folded by of a rod 14, the other end 15 of which, also folded by 90,is slidably mounted in a slot 16 provided, for this purpose, near theend of handle 9.

A member 17 having a suitable shape has a tight fit in the tubular endof handle 9 and is provided, on its outermost face, with a notch 18adapted to bear on the operat ing lever during the operation stepsimplying a pushing action. Rod 14 is covered on side of the handle by aprotecting plate 19. The slidable mounting of rod 14 permits retractingthe same into the handle, as shown in dot lines in Fig. 6. When thearticulation device is to be used, notch 18 permits, moreover,introducing a finger under arm 12 of the rod to bring the same into theposition shown in full lines in which it may be used for operating lever4.

Finally, in the embodiment shown in Figs. 8 and 9, a slotted sleeve 20is rotatively mounted in a cylindrical bore 21 provided for this purposein the handle towards its end and at right-angle with its longitudinalaxis. Slot 22 of said sleeve is adapted to be engaged, as shown in Fig.8, on the end of lever 4. In operation, sleeve 20 is held outside thehandle by means of a small elastic clip 23. When the sleeve is to beretracted, it suffices to introduce a finger into bore 21 and tocompress clip 23 while pressing upon sleeve 20 to bring the same intoits housing, small outwardly folded portions 24 being provided at theouter end of sleeve 20 to limit the stroke thereof in the retractingdirection by cooperating with abutments 25 provided on the edge ofhousing 21. In the opposite direction said abutments prevent said sleevefrom being expelled out of its housing by stopping a reinforced portion26 of said sleeve which is then locked in this position by the elasticclip 23.

The device according to the invention operates as 1501 lows:

For actuating the operating lever 4, it sufiices to engage thearticulation means provided for this purpose on the handle of theski-stick directly on said lever, in the case of the embodiment of Figs.8 and 9, and on an ancillary articulation member provided on said lever,in the case of the other embodiments. As soon as the ski-stick and theoperating lever are thus articulated, the skier can easily actuate thelever from a distance by acting upon the stick, which permits him toremain in standing position.

The releasing operation only implies a simple pull which can be exertedfreely in the required direction thanks to the articulation with theoperating lever; as soon as the binding is opened, a simple gesturesuflices to release the ski-stick from the operating lever.

To effect the fastening operation, the first step consists in pulling onthe lever to bring the same substantially in alignment with the stick(see I and II, Fig. 5).

The ski-stick is then tilted rearwards about its articulation on thelever after which a pushing action is exerted upon the lever to finishthe fastening operation (III, Fig. 5).

The free articulation of the stick on the lever permits to pass easilythe dead point since the stick may be brought for this purpose into aposition in which it makes a variable angle with said lever.

It will be seen that, in the examples of Figs. 1 to 4, on the one hand,and 8 and 9, on the other hand, the pull and push actions aretransmitted from the ski-stick to the operating lever through one singlepart, while, in the example of Figs, 5 to 7, said actions aretransmitted through different members viz. pin 12 and the end of thestick (bottom of notch 18).

What is claimed is:

The combination with a ski binding comprising means to hold the toe of aboot to the ski, a toggle lever pivoted to said ski about a transverseaxis located ahead of said holding means, and resilient means attachedto said toggle lever and adapted to engage the heel of said boot wherebylongitudinal swinging motion of said lever about said axis to a positionbeyond dead center will tension said resilient means to thereby urgesaid heel downwardly against the ski, of a device permitting to swingsaid lever to or from said position by means of a conventionalski-stick, said device consisting of an articulation about a single axisparallel to said transverse axis and comprising two complementary pivotelements adapted to be loosely engaged and disengaged, one of saidelements forming part of the ski-stick being constituted by a holehaving a circular cross-section provided near one end of the stick andthe other of said elements forming part of said lever being constitutedby a pin having a circular cross-section slightly smaller than that ofsaid hole and fixedly secured on said lever near its free end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,310,651 De Long July 27, 1919 2,176,226 Reed Oct. 17, 1939 2,340,868Dye Feb. 8, 1944 2,490,183 Wheeler Dec. 6, 1949 2,645,501 Fawick July14, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 892,806 France Jan. 13, 1944 69,435 Norway July9, 1945 47,443 Switzerland May 1, 1909 68,203 Switzerland June 15, 1914

